But the PZPN said the word, which derives from the Russian verb “to destroy”, is often used in Poland to describe sweeping sporting victories.
“Maybe in this match, [it] was awkwardly used, because as you can see it raises unnecessary emotions, but that is in no way what we wanted,” a spokesperson, Jakub Kwiatkowski, said on Tuesday.
But Rafal Pankowski, head of the Polish “Never Again” Association — told The Algemeiner website that the word showed “opened the floodgates” to comments about Holocaust imagery and jokes about gas.
“In contrast to the supporters good conduct, the use of the word ‘pogrom’ in a post about the game shows a complete lack of sensitivity in the Polish Football Association’s communications department,” he said.
